Since time immemorial, mankind has been looking up at the stars and dreaming, but it was only centuries ago that we started turning those dreams into fiction. And what remarkable dreams they are—dreams of distant worlds, unearthly creatures, parallel universes, artificial intelligence, and so much more. Today, we call those dreams science fiction.
Science fiction’s earliest inklings began in the mid-1600s, when Johannes Kepler and Francis Godwin wrote pioneering stories about voyages to the moon. Some scholars argue that science fiction as we now understand it was truly born in 1818, when Mary Shelley published Frankenstein, the first novel of its kind whose events are explained by science, not mysticism or miracles. Now, two centuries later, sci-fi is a sprawling and lucrative multimedia genre with countless subgenres, such as dystopian fiction, postapocalyptic fiction, and climate fiction, to name just a few. It’s also remarkably porous, allowing for some overlap with genres like fantasy and horror.
Sci-fi brings out the best in our imaginations and evokes a sense of wonder, but it also inspires a spirit of questioning. Through the enduring themes of sci-fi, we can examine the zeitgeist’s cultural context and ethical questions. Our favorite works in the genre make good on this promise, meditating on everything from identity to oppression to morality. As the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing said, “Science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time.”
Over two years ago, we published a version of this list featuring 50 books. But why stop at 50? Now, as part of our latest Summer Fiction Week, we’ve cast a wider net and expanded the list to 75 titles. Choosing the 75 best science fiction books of all time wasn’t easy, so to get the job done, we had to establish some guardrails. Though we assessed single installments as representatives of their series, we limited the list to one book per author. We also emphasized books that brought something new and innovative to the genre—to borrow a great sci-fi turn of phrase, books that “boldly go where no one has gone before.”
Now, in ranked order, here are the best science fiction books of all time.
#1 | 3.85 | 1,186 reads | ||
#2 | 4.28 | 2,098 reads | ||
#3 | 3.97 | 379 reads | ||
#4 | 4.33 | 796 reads | ||
#5 | 4.32 | 310 reads | ||
#6 | 4.06 | 459 reads | ||
#7 | 3.82 | 613 reads | ||
#8 | 4.24 | 327 reads | ||
#9 | 4.11 | 781 reads | ||
#10 | 3.94 | 705 reads | ||
#11 | 3.92 | 1,180 reads | ||
#12 | 4.19 | 2,881 reads | ||
#13 | 3.45 | 44 reads | ||
#14 | 3.89 | 1,400 reads | ||
#15 | 3.34 | 76 reads | ||
#16 | 4.05 | 43 reads | ||
#17 | 4.02 | 279 reads | ||
#18 | 4.01 | 180 reads | ||
#19 | 3.94 | 221 reads | ||
#20 | 3 | 2 reads | ||
#21 | 3.78 | 194 reads | ||
#22 | 4.27 | 601 reads | ||
#23 | 3.87 | 292 reads | ||
#24 | 3.63 | 663 reads | ||
#25 | 4 | 15 reads | ||
#26 | 3.53 | 24 reads | ||
#27 | 3.66 | 270 reads | ||
#28 | 3.93 | 347 reads | ||
#29 | 3.4 | 29 reads | ||
#30 | 3.63 | 22 reads | ||
#31 | 4.15 | 613 reads | ||
#32 | 4.01 | 407 reads | ||
#33 | 4.18 | 377 reads | ||
#34 | 3.96 | 189 reads | ||
#35 | 3.37 | 48 reads | ||
#36 | 3.34 | 65 reads | ||
#37 | 3.67 | 3 reads | ||
#38 | 4.13 | 611 reads | ||
#39 | 3.27 | 41 reads | ||
#40 | 4.45 | 1,530 reads | ||
#41 | 3.92 | 224 reads | ||
#42 | 4.25 | 1,873 reads | ||
#43 | 3.97 | 199 reads | ||
#44 | 3.89 | 141 reads | ||
#45 | 3.86 | 667 reads | ||
#46 | 4.1 | 96 reads | ||
#47 | 3.99 | 87 reads | ||
#48 | 4.5 | 4 reads | ||
#49 | 3.68 | 539 reads | ||
#50 | 3.78 | 768 reads | ||
#51 | 3.76 | 208 reads | ||
#52 | 3.91 | 491 reads | ||
#53 | 3.74 | 229 reads | ||
#54 | 4.28 | 555 reads | ||
#55 | 3.85 | 67 reads | ||
#56 | 3.5 | 8 reads | ||
#57 | 3.85 | 848 reads | ||
#58 | 3.81 | 73 reads | ||
#59 | 4.05 | 51 reads | ||
#60 | 4.01 | 83 reads | ||
#61 | 3.82 | 60 reads | ||
#62 | 3.89 | 11 reads | ||
#63 | 3 | 2 reads | ||
#64 | 3.66 | 35 reads | ||
#65 | 4.15 | 68 reads | ||
#66 | 3.65 | 64 reads | ||
#67 | 4.1 | 223 reads | ||
#68 | 3.87 | 20 reads | ||
#69 | 3.93 | 612 reads | ||
#70 | 3.63 | 10 reads | ||
#71 | 4.33 | 5 reads | ||
#72 | 4.38 | 13 reads | ||
#73 | 3.87 | 371 reads | ||
#74 | 4.08 | 213 reads | ||
#75 | 3.65 | 122 reads |